Working in the mornings on hunger games Tuesday will be the end of me ^^ Keep those reviews coming!

Chapter 7

Korra had let her anger fade away by lunch. The careers all sat at one table together. Most of the time the conversation talked about how training had gone or how good they were. Korra didn't much want to hear all that. Training had lasted so long as it is she wished they would talk about something else. She was curious about how people lived in the other districts. The other nations didn't seem to have hunters or warriors like the water tribe did. Who provided food for their families or protected them? It couldn't have been the women was it? The girls in the lower districts seemed too thin to be able to provide for a family.

Korra caught sight of Mako sitting alone and eating a sandwich. No one even bothered to sit by him. He was too quiet and boring to be around. His head was ducked and he watched the others with a chilling look Korra could only describe as feral. Korra didn't want to talk to him either.

The next day of training went without incident. Korra kept expecting Mako to talk to her but he never did. Had he decided she wasn't worth his time after beating her? Korra wanted to challenge him again, or at least to tell her she was better then what he saw. But doing that would let the others know she had lost. She couldn't look weak to them at least. After a while she stopped looking over her shoulder to see if he was coming.

Korra did her best to remember what every tribute did at each of the stations she saw them on. For the most part that ended up meaning she watched the careers. The others were dead anyway. Yong was capable of lightningbending. Wei was a powerful metalbender, as everyone expected, but lacked even basic survival skills.

Korra let them see that she was a bender as well, but was careful not to show anything more. She went out of her way to avoid stations that showcased survival techniques. She knew her share of those just by living in the southern water tribe. When you live in a place where not having a fire overnight can mean certain death but there isn't a scrap of wood to be found you tend to learn how to survive. Still it was nice to see how people got by here where firewood and stones for weapons were more readily available.

She did pay special attention to the trapping station. There were plenty of trappers at home who used their skills to feed their families. Korra had always watched the craft from a distance and let herself enjoy the chance to actually try it for herself. There seemed to be no end to the number of traps they could teach her.

At lunch on the final day of training Chee invited Mako to sit with the careers. Korra hadn't been able to find out details but Yong challenged him earlier that day. Whatever he had done had clearly impressed her. The relief that came from his refusal was much stronger than she had expected. If he was intent on not talking to her then she would do the same.

After what seemed like weeks of fine dining and extensive training Korra would be presented to the gamemakers. She had talked with her mentors during every meal trying to pin down a strategy for the evaluation. His decision turned out to be a simple one: "you've never been able to hide your love of bending before," he told her, "Why start now?"

The other tributes waited in the hall along with her. Like everything else they did the tributes were put in order by their districts. Korra wouldn't let the boy go before her. One by one the other tributes went inside. The careers more enthusiastically then the rest.

Like always Mako was silent leaving Korra unsettled. His amber eyes concentrated on nothing. His face was almost emotionless as he waited. Korra couldn't imagine what he was planning.

"Four!" Iroh called and she went to the door. He looked at her for a moment before motioning her to enter. Korra felt a familiar twang of annoyance. What was he looking at?

The sparing room was now where she would be evaluated. Like before it was empty but racks of weapons lined one of the walls. The platform above was filled with gamemakers. Many of them held drinks in their hands. Thankfully not much time had passed and most of them were not drunk yet.

Korra took a place in the center of the room. She wanted them all to see her. She wanted them to see she was unarmed. "Korra, District four. Waterbender."

When she said her element the room changed once more. She found herself on an arctic plain not unlike her district. On all four sides of her stood massive polar bear dogs, all snarling and growling. She doubted any of them were going to be friendly.

Korra positioned herself in the snow. She felt it compress under her feet. She heard it crunch with her weight. There was no cold that came with it though.

The dog to her right lunged and snapped his jaws. It wasn't a move common for a polar bear dog and so Korra wasn't ready. It bit the side of her clothes and pulled her towards it.

Korra raised a hand and let a water whip strike the dog under the jaw. Converting water from snow was easy enough for her. After the dogs grip had been loosed she kept the whip steady between her hands.

She glanced up at the gamemakers and smiled.

Using her bending she threw herself in the air and over the dogs. She was sure she could handle them but didn't feel the need to let them surround her. She went so far as to pull one of their tails when she landed behind it. It yelped as it turned on her.

One of them reared on its hind legs, intent on crushing her with his massive paws. Korra swiped the snow under it turning it to solid ice. The beast crumpled as it lost its balance unable to keep from sliding. When the dog hit the ground the image of it faded away like dye in water.

The one Korra had pulled on charged after her with its mouth open. Thick drops of slobber fell from its floppy lips. It ended up closing its fangs around a beam of ice Korra held between her hands like a staff. It cracked under the force of the dogs jaws. It thrashed its head snapping it into little shards. Korra punched it in the nose to disorient it.

From her left side one of the polar bear dogs charged again. She jumped backwards barely out of its way. Were they managing to surround her again? Making a little ramp of ice Korra slid away from them. The third bear tried to knock her over. Korra leapt, spinning as she did and letting momentum fuel her kick. Ice followed her leg downward and struck the bear in the side of the head. It went down with a dull thud in the snow.

Korra faced the final two bears. One stood on either side of her. Their heads raised in a growl. Their powerful shoulders squared. One roared. Korra shot ice into its open jaw. The ice shattered when it closed its mouth.

One after the other the bears roared and fell in heaps on the ground. Before they vanished pools of blood stained their white fur. Korra had not attacked them though so why did they fall? Had the gamemakers decided they had seen enough?

Korra turned as she heard a soft clinking sound. Behind her she saw the boy from her district holding a boomerang. He didn't look much like he had an hour ago. All of his nervousness, all his fear, seemed to vanish like the bears had. His eyes were cold. His face stone. He pulled a club from a loop on his belt and charged at her with a battle cry.

"Woah kid!" Korra jumped back at his first swing, "What are you doing?"

"Getting you before the games start."

"Are you kidding? You're going to get yourself killed like this." Korra tried to find the gamemakers. This part of training was supposed to be alone. And if she hurt him now would she be punished for it? Through the simulation she saw only a gray cloudy sky and flecks of snow that stung her eyes.

Instead of swinging again he thrust his club hard into Korra's chest. She fell backwards with the wind almost knocked out of her. Where had this strength come from? Had he been playing weak this whole time?

"If I let you live now you'll kill me in the games. And if you don't do that you'll help another career do it."

"I said I wasn't going to. Remember, on the boat." She never thought she would see a need too. He was so young and weak she figured he would die on his own without her help. Seeing him now hungry for blood she wasn't as sure.

Korra rolled away just as he brought the club down where her head had been. Snow sprayed from the impact. Korra sprang to her feet and instantly was forced onto the defensive. He came at her again and again from one side then the other. He was faster than he should be and his blows grew harder and harder to defend against. His directions were random and it was almost impossible for Korra to tell which way he would be coming from.

Finally when Korra thought she could take no more she charged at him. All of her weight behind her she barraled into his chest. The both of them fell back together. The boy thrashed but Korra was heavier. She forced him to the ground holding his hands by his head.

"What is wrong with you?" She shouted in the boys face. "Are you trying to get yourself killed? Do it this way and the gamemakers will make sure you're miserable in the arena. Do you want that?" The boy spat in her face. Korra couldn't even wipe it away. She would have punched him in the face though if she had the chance. "Look. The gamemakers aren't watching. If you leave maybe they won't kill you. Do you understand me? Alrght? They're stupid enough to not pay attention now anyway. Get out of here and pretend like nothing ever happened."

A dull clicking sound echoed off the metal room. The arctic plain was gone. The boy was gone. In what had been the clouds the gamemakers lined the window watching her. Korra tried to make out their faces through the glass.

"I didn't mean-"

"Korra." Iroh was standing in the doorway. "You can leave now."

"But I-"

"Now Korra." His voice was hard. Had he seen her try to convince the boy to go against the gamemakers? Did he know she called them stupid?

There wasn't a chance to argue. Korra stormed out of the room and past everyone waiting for their turn. She said nothing to the other tributes. They were looking at her. She could practically feel Mako's amber gaze on her. She wouldn't even look at him.

Every muscle in her body was like a coiled spring ready to snap. When she reached the elevator she punched her floor hard enough to hurt her knuckles. She ignored the mentors too when she was upstairs. When Koyak tried to say something to her she knocked a lamp off a table. Shards of pottery scattered across the floor with jagged edges.

Korra went to the one place in the capitol she knew no cameras would be watching her: The bathroom. She didn't even take off her clothes before stepping into the ice cold shower. The droplets fell into her upturned eyes. A tear fell.

How could she have been so stupid? She dug her nails into her bicepts. Her body stung from the cold. The gamemakers would kill her now. They'd call her a rebel. She should have realized they could still see her in the snow.

Her anger boiled over. With a sound that could only be described as a roar fire burst from Korra's mouth.